Light as 'Air,' the new MacBook impresses family

Apple created quite a buzz last month when it announced the MacBook Air, an ultra-thin, lightweight laptop that Apple Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs famously fit into an interoffice mail envelope.

Within a couple of days, my husband and I had placed our order &#8212; the first Mac for our PC family. We've been putting it through its paces for the past few weeks.

Design

This computer is thin. Really thin. If you're not careful, it can get lost in even a small stack of papers. And it's light. At three pounds, it's easy to handle with one hand and weighs next to nothing in a shoulder bag.

It has great features such as a full-size backlit keyboard and a 13.3-inch LED-backlit screen.

Like other MacBooks, the Air has a built-in camera and microphones at the top of the screen. Apple made this equipment remarkably easy to use, so that when my father called one night over Skype, it didn't take any setup at all to answer and hold our first-ever video conversation.

That's one of the great things about Macs; while similar equipment is available for PCs, Apple makes it easy for novices to try using multi-media features and succeed.

Other design touches include a sleek and sturdy brushed aluminum casing and a magnetic power plug.

Cost

The base price for the MacBook Air is $1,800. That configuration includes a 1.6-GHz processor, an 80-GB hard drive and the i-Life software suite, which provides fun multimedia software such as iPhoto, GarageBand, iMovie and iWeb. Upgrading to a 1.8-GHz processor adds $300, while opting for faster booting, better battery life and quieter use with a 64-GB solid state drive adds $1,000. We also bought Apple's external DVD drive for $100 and a $30 Apple ethernet adapter.

Portability

We're already a household of small laptops; my Dell has a 12.1-inch display, and my husband uses a 10.6-inch Fujitsu that often makes people over 50 squint while reading the screen.

So it's with some experience that I can say the MacBook Air has been ideally designed as an ultra-portable laptop &#8212; it's light and easy to transport, but the spacious screen eliminates the squint factor.

It compares favorably with ultra-portable PCs on price and processor speed, and it comes with 2 GB of RAM, more than the base configuration of many other similar laptops.

However, its battery life of three to four hours is low for ultra-portables, and its battery can't be replaced by the user. That means you can't swap out the battery with an extra, charged one on long trips.

Drawbacks

Unfortunately, not everything about the MacBook Air is well-designed.

The bottom of the wrist support has a sharp edge that chafes my wrists if my sleeves ride up. And we're not the only users to find that the computer doesn't always sit level on the desk.

The major drawback for many users is that the laptop lacks the connectivity of many others, with no built-in optical drive, FireWire port or card reader and just one USB port.

The lack of an optical drive is one feature in particular that could make the Air a no-go for some buyers. If you like to watch DVDs on your computer, having to use an external drive might rub you the wrong way.

Software

The Air does come with RemoteDisk software that allows it to harness the optical drives on nearby computers. It works for installing software but not for playing copyrighted movies.

And with an Intel Core 2 Duo chip, the Air has the capability of running both the Windows and Mac operating systems using Apple's built-in BootCamp software. That's handy for the programs that don't have a Mac version yet. Also, somebody who loves the laptop's design but doesn't like the Mac OS could theoretically set it to always boot to Windows.

But Mac software is easy to use, intuitive and likely to make a believer out of anyone who gives it a shot. For instance, in about five minutes, my father and I put together a professional-looking photo slideshow with background music using iPhoto.

Bottom Line

Apple combines portability with functionality to create a great laptop in the MacBook Air.

But some features are a little too streamlined, and the Air doesn't offer enough to be right for everyone, especially if it would be your only computer.